has the latest on the game that's about to go underway. >>reporter:calisplaying 50 miles away from home, but with all the blue and gold in here, in less than two hours, number cal will be taking on syracuse. cal beat montana 81-34 on thursday. fans say they will be rooting for cal, of course, but most predict it will be a very close gam game. >> it's amazing. it's so good we got the good draw, got to be local here, playing a great syracuse team today. should be exciting. >> cal will take it down against syracuse. syracuse is the better team. >> are you guys cal fans? >> absolutely. >> do you have the bears on your bracket? >> of course, any good cal fan has them going to the sweet 16. i had them working right through. i figured it's a gimme. >> reporter: right now the oregon ducks are playing against st. louis, then cal and syracuse will take the court at 6:40 this evening. live in san jose, kimberly tere, nbc bay area news. >> still to come at 5:00, a first in the history of the catholic church, and what the former pope promised pope francis. [ male announcer ] fact: the 100% elec

.calasa 12 seed gets to play 45 miles from campus which makes the prospect of upsetting unlv less daunting. it's also great for the fans who can see the game in person. just a glorious situation all of the way around. >> we were surprised we get to stay so close to home. hopefully we can get a good fan base out there and get good krou crowds out there to be behind us and cheer us on. it's a good situation for us. >> they are excited. it's a close to home game. i expect a lot of students. a lot of alumni and a lot of blue and gold out there. i'm happy. hopefully, you know, they'll support us on this run and we'll see what happens. >> getting to stay close to home and same for unlv. it makes so much sense to me to have your people, your fans, your people that followed you all year long to be able to be involved with the game and that makes it more fun for everybody. >> we'll have much more on the cal men's and women's teams. those brackets out today as well. that coming up in the 6:00 hour. guys? >> okay. thank you. great news for the cal basketball team. in addition to cal and unlv

occasions.calandoregon with bay area fans. >> we're big basketball fans. i'macalalumni,too. so the two together is really cool. >> i drove down here with three of my buddies. woke up this morning, booked it down to san jose. >> reporter: and then there's the team from st. louis. the question that everyone wants to know, what is a billicka? >> i don't even know what it is, to be honest. >> reporter: it's actually an elf-like character made up by an art teacher in st. louis in the early 1900s, and originally sold as a charm doll. we all know golden bears are real and they've been in the ncaa tournament 18 times. and won one national championship in three final four appearances. that came in 1959. cal fans this time around aren't necessarily expecting a title, just a good showing. >> they're a good team. they deserve to be here. they fought real hard all year. and i think they could have a good chance to go up the ladder. >> reporter: all right. so here's what we do no. the billickans will take on the oregon ducks saturday. sad news on the road. last-second shot to try to beat mem

. there are four games tomorrow with two more on saturday. 12thseededcaltakeson number 5 unlv tomorrow afternoon. >>> we have a follow-up to our lead story yesterday. santa clara is putting it all on the line for super bowl l. they agreed to give up millions of dollars in revenue if the niners end up hosting the game in 2016. miami, the other city in the running refused the nfl's demands. they include a waiver on ticket surcharges and hotel charges for employees. the league will announce the host city in late may. >>> we're learning tonight that bay area commuters are so tired of traffic they'll pay to avoid it. that's the case here. where tolls are coming in 25% higher than expected. the mercury news reports the toll lanes on interstate 80 and highway 287 are bringing in 58% more money than expected. the toll charge ranges from 30 cents to more than 5 bucks. cal transis converting to toll ways over the next five years. >>> for many of us green means red. as in red noses and eyes. the grass pollens this year are out much earlier than usual. marianne favro joins us with why this could b